READERS GUIDE

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. Why, sixty years on, are people still captivated by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? Why do you think there are no clear answers when it comes to who killed him?

2. What were your thoughts and opinions about the Kennedy assassination before reading A Woman I Know? What are they now?

3. Why do you think the author abandons her initial project about the Mercury 13 and feels compelled to get to the bottom of Jerrie’s story?

4. Do you think Jerrie tells the truth when she says she isn’t June Cobb? Why do you think the author is cautious to reveal to Jerrie all she has learned? How might you approach Jerrie, and what questions would you ask her?

5. Do you feel that the book does a thorough job of presenting the case that the events of November 22, 1963, were more than simply the job of a “lone gunman”? What did or did not convince you?

6. Does the book make you rethink other historical events in the United States? Are you content believing the stories told? Or do you think there is more to a story than what’s on the
official record?

7. Which topics in the book would you like to explore more?

8. Why do you think this story is important? What do you hope comes of it?

9. Throughout the book, the question often asked is: Do you like Jerrie? How does the author ultimately answer the question? How would you answer it?

10. Who do you think killed President Kennedy and why? How did his death change the arc of history?